“Do you train each salesperson to look for upsell opportunities when they are measuring the home?” That’s the question I posed on a recent coaching call with a floor dealer who wanted to increase revenue. “No, not really,” he replied.
I’ve asked this question to hundreds of floor dealers, and 98% of the time I get this same answer. The overwhelming majority of dealers are spending tens or hundreds-of-thousands of dollars annually in marketing to drive leads to their businesses, but don’t fully exploit each opportunity to maximize profits. The customer wants flooring, so they sell them flooring without ever offering dozens other things that the customer potentially needs.
‘Do you want fries with that?’
McDonald’s is widely credited with inventing this famous upsell line. They drilled it into their employees and made it mandatory that they ask it with every transaction. There are no hard statistics, but it’s estimated that this increased average tickets by 15%–40%. Fries and drinks are the highest margin items, so it also had a disproportional effect on net profits. It was so successful that variations of this are now used across the entire restaurant industry. Even sit-down restaurants will bring dessert trays at the end of your meal, tempting you to drop another $15-$25 per person on confections of sugar, salt and fat.
Let’s look at how to replicate this in your flooring business.
To start, you need to bake upselling into the DNA of your sales process. First, your team should be trained to ask diagnostic questions as part of the sales process. One of those questions should be, “Are your new floors part of a larger remodel or redesign project?” Oftentimes it is, and this opens up a golden opportunity to sell them additional products. Also ask what the overall scope of the project entails, what’s being replaced, rebuilt or redesigned.
Once in the home, your salesperson should get permission to measure and inspect all of the flooring, even the areas that aren’t being replaced. This gives them a chance to look for upsell opportunities such as additional rooms of flooring, area rugs, paint, cabinets, counters, window treatments, a new vacuum cleaner, cleaning products, carpet cleaning, etc.
These potential upsell opportunities will break down into two categories: 1) things you sell, and 2) things your referral partners sell.
If the customer is planning to replace window coverings—and it’s something you sell—give them a quote. If you don’t sell window coverings, connect them to your referral partner who does. Your customer will appreciate being referred to a professional they can trust. Your referral partner will appreciate the free business and return the favor. (If they never return the favor, you might need to find another referral partner.)
When the salesperson puts together the quote, they should simply add the upsell items and offer them to the customer. (Going back to the McDonald’s analogy: “Do you want an area rug with that?”) You can offer packages such as “good, better, best,” or “with or without window treatments.” Now, instead of giving them a “yes or no” option, you’re giving them multiple “yes” options.
Speaking & Webinars. Jim is a sought-after speaker and founder of Flooring Success Systems. He delivers powerful live and virtual presentations that help floor dealers grow sales, improve margins, and strengthen their businesses. His team also offers a complete turnkey webinar package—handling hosting, promotions, and full execution. To inquire about booking Jim or setting up a custom event, contact Support@FlooringSuccessSystems.com.
